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How bad will Donald Trump be for Green Energy?

Green energy is energy collected from renewable resources- such as rain, sunlight, wind and geothermal heat which is naturally replenished.

Donald trump referred to climate change as a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese and threatened to terminate the EPA’s power plan.

Clearly, Donald Trump’s points of view on renewable energy and fossil fuels are a far departure from those of Hillary Clinton and those of the former Obama administration.

A pre-election approximate had shown that Hillary Clinton would have been way better for green energy than Donald Trump. Everybody knows that. From the look of things, it appears that renewable energy growth will be damaged by various policy decisions made by the Trump administration.

Here is a quick look at the study in the U.S EIA’s (Energy Information Administration) 2016 Annual Energy Outlook of the Clean Power Plan (CPP), which trump said he would abolish. The CPP is the subject of a highly fought legal battle being waged in the United States Court of appeal. Come 2030, the amount of electricity produced by solar and wind is 683 billion kWh. With the Clean Power Plan, use of coal energy reduced by 28 percent. However, it increases by 5 percent without this plan.

The (CPP) is only one factor in the growth of renewable energy. The other two important factors are the Production Tax Credit and the Investment Tax Credit. Due to the credit, added renewable generation capacity will shoot up by about 50 Gigawatts in 5 years. The impact will be massive if these subsides are extended beyond 2020.

Let’s assume the credits for renewable energy are not prolonged beyond 2020. The price of gas, which will also be influenced by Donald Trump’s policies, will be a greater factor.

Analysis shows slower renewable growth when gas amounts are low. In the no extension scenario renewable energy capacity is about 125 gigawatts lower while in the case there’s an extension the capacity by 2030 is about 100 gigawatts lower.

Discussions about the growth of renewable energy count in the high possibility that the Production Tax Credit, Investment Tax Credit and the Clean Power Plan will not be revoked, that the subsidies will continue and the decreasing cost of renewable will make them more competitive. The big differences will be in the fossil fuel policies and federal credits.

It is hard to tell which policies will be put into action at the national level. Both Production Tax Credit and the Investment Tax Credit may stay in force due to favors of many Republican in states that benefit from these credits.

Policies honoring the oil industry and abandoning the Clean Power Plan (CPP) seem likely. It appears that renewable energy growth will continue but at a much-reduced pace under President Trump.